Of the Past and Future

“All right, class; come along.” Leanne sighed as she stood up and headed out of the bus, folding her arms as the teacher gave her a stern look. She shifted her stance a bit to hide the paper sticking out of her pocket as she weaseled her way out to the gaggle of children surrounding her. Ever since her parents had begrudgingly allowed her to go on the field trip to Celestic Town, she’d been planning her own little tour of the museum. She’d spent hours going through a virtual walkthrough to plan what she wanted to see since there were exhibits she knew they would skip. The preteen walked along with the group, her mind numb as she listened to the tour guide drone on about things she’d already studied. The princess who had been kidnapped and forced to live and serve as a knight by a rival kingdom during the time before she’d unified Sinnoh… The war that had nearly torn the region apart two centuries later… A supposed several-hundred-year-old Lunar wing… A large chunk of rock from the Spear Pillar… Leanne rubbed her temples before she blinked and smiled as they rounded a corner and she dashed off in the opposite direction, glad for the narrow, four-way intersection. She made her way into a small hall of documents, her footsteps echoing in the empty chamber. She was glad for the early hour they’d arrived there even if it’d mean her waking up extra early to get there before the museum reached peak hours. However, she ignored everything around her as she beelined straight for her target: an old journal, written in ancient Sinnohian. The pages looked so brittle that even the slightest breath could cause them to break apart. She pressed her hands and nose against the glass as she read the translation, furrowing her brow as she looked at the text itself. Had it really been translated by the best scholars? If so, how could they be so horribly wrong? It was supposedly written by the Dark Queen, Sinnoh’s unifier, yet everything about the writing screamed the author being male. The handwriting, the vernacular, the gendered articles… “The people who run this museum are idiots.” “Are they now?” Leanne tensed when she heard the voice behind her and felt a chill go down her spine as she recognised it. Heels clicked against the linoleum caused her skin to crawl further as she caught the reflection in the glass above her and she closed her eyes.  “Professor Carolina Fewell…” Somehow, Leanne managed to find her voice and forced her eyes open as she saw the woman’s intimidating glare in the glass. Why was she here? She was supposed to be away on a dig… “What leads you to that conclusion young lady?” Leanne let out a small sound of discomfort, but she couldn’t move outside of curling her fingers, feeling her fingernails dig into her palm. Oh dear Arceus… “Please speak with me face to face.” She left no room for argument in her tone. “Yes, ma’am!” Leanne swiveled on her heel and made eye contact with the professor before she blinked. Instead of her infamous harsh look, she now wore a gentle smile on her face and she knelt down to Leanne’s level.  “So, what makes you believe my staff are idiots?” Carolina's tone lightened a bit and she smiled more which allowed Leanne to breathe a sigh of relief and relax a bit. She wasn’t as scary as everyone had made her out to be. But she glanced over her shoulder at the journal before turning back to Carolina. “Well… Any ancient Sinnohian scholar should have been able to see the fact a man wrote this, yet it’s clearly in the Dark Queen’s own hand…” Leanne furrowed her brow as she ran over the two pages of the manuscript she’d read and turned back to the case. She felt Carolina lean over her as she pointed to several key words and phrases. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but males and females spoke and wrote in unique ways in ancient Sinnoh. The touch of the quill is light like a woman’s indicative of that era, but the way the letters are written and the style used are indicative of a male.” “You’re correct that it is quite unusual, young lady, but couldn’t it just so happen that the queen was taught to write by a man?” Leanne’s eyebrows shot up at Carolina’s tone. It was truly inquisitive with a level of respect, not at all condescending. Sinnoh’s foremost expert on the past was taking an eleven-year-old seriously? Yes, trainers could set off at ten, but this was something only scholars should know… “It would seem a feasible explanation if it weren’t for the fact the pronouns are all wrong. Aje is used only by males brought up in royal court. It’s true she lived as a knight for many years and took a husband after unifying Sinnoh but…” Leanne fell silent for a moment as she considered her next words carefully. Carolina was taking her seriously, and if she messed it up, the stern old woman would likely laugh her out of the museum. She let out a breath a moment later before she continued. “While it makes sense that she would use those specific pronouns while serving as a knight, this was written five years after she unified Sinnoh. She was kidnapped when she was eight, so it would make more sense for her to default back to ane-- the feminine equivalent of aje. She’s lamenting being pregnant and the awful circumstances of her child’s birth. Why would she continue to refer to herself as aje and be so upset about it? The full reports I’ve read on the doument’s full translation make no mention of the masculine language.” She’d never seen photos of the one-of-a-kind document due to its fragile nature allowing it not to be photographed only displayed only rarely. It was one of only a handful of surviving records drafted by the queen herself, so it was carefully guarded. “You’re quite knowledgeable on linguistics for one so young, but I believe you’re on the right track.” Leanne’s eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder at Carolina who smiled down at at her before turning her attention back to the case. “Those reports you’ve read neglect to mention the language due to the fact it contradicts everything we think we know about the Dark Queen. If you’re hypothesizing that she was actually transgendered, then I believe you’re correct. This is only one of three documents known to be written by the Dark Queen herself, so when it came to light it contradicted all established beliefs… Well, you can guess how most took it.”  Leanne fell silent as she contemplated Carolina's words. Were the academics really covering up the fact the queen was actually a king? The document had only been found some four years prior, so it would take time for the theory to even be heard, let alone be accepted even if Carolina herself championed it. A hand on her head made Leanne look up as Carolina smiled down at her again. “You’re a smart young woman. What’s your name?” She paused for a moment before her eyes widened and she grinned from ear to ear. Professor Fewell had just praised her! Even many of her closest colleagues never experienced that (if their testimonies were to be believed). “Leanne Hale! T-Thank you, Professor!” She would have told her parents but they wouldn’t believe her. Carolina opened her mouth to speak again but a “Gibo!” made the pair look over toward the doorway. A young girl with blonde hair and steel-gray eyes ran in behind a Gible that attached itself to the professor’s leg. “Sorry, Gramma! I tried to keep Gabby back but she--” The girl stopped dead when she saw Leanne and almost seemed to shrink away. “W-Who’s that?” Leanne just tilted her head before she smiled and walked over to the girl.  “You’re Cynthia, right?! THe one who helped find the documents to the lost founder of the Blackwell line?!” The girl gave a small nod but shrank into Carolina’s leg after she ran to her grandmother. The search for the Blackwell line’s founder had been a long one due to the sudden appearance of such a powerful line of psychics roughly twelve-hundred years prior. Though only seven, Cynthia was proving to already be as much of a genius as her grandmother. But the preteen smiled as she rubbed the side of her neck and stepped back, looking at Carolina. “S-Sorry… I’m Leanne Hale. I was just studying the Dark Queen’s journal…” At that, Cynthia brightened and looked at Leanne. “Really?! So many others pass it by even though it’s one of the most important documents ever found! Did Gramma tell you her theory about--” “The queen actually being transgendered? I actually thought about that on my own after looking at it myself!” CYnthia blinked as her smile doubled and she let go of her grandmother’s leg. “Wow, really?! It took Gramma six months to learn ancient Sinnohian to come up with that theory!” She paused for a moment before she looked at Leanne, then Carolina. “It’s Friday, so can she stay the night?!” Leanne blinked, bemused as they’d just met, but she smiled a moment later at the prospect of spending time with Professor Fewell and her granddaughter.  “I suppose if her parents agree, it’s fine.” Carolina smiled but the color drained from Leanne’s face. “Is something wrong, Miss Hale?” Oh Arceus, her parents… “...You really don’t need to worry about that.” Leanne’s voice quivered before she fell silent, fixing her gaze on her clasped hands as she lowered her head. The fight with her parents three years prior flashed through her mind. After refusing to put down the archaeological reports she’d borrowed from the library, her mother had wrenched them out of her hand and replaced it with a medical text, followed by a law text. They were the only choices for her future, so archaeology had no place. She refused to listen and went back to reading the reports, ignoring her mother yelling at her while her little sister watched on. Right then and there, her mother started calling relatives one by one, seeing if anyone else would take her in. The refused and her mother’s scathing words still rung in her ears: You may still live here, but you are no longer a part of this family. Carolina placed a hand on Leanne’s shoulder and she looked up, seeing the old woman’s smile through bleary eyes. The professor wiped the tears away as she bent down and hugged her, causing the preteen to cling instinctively. “Well then, my doors are always open to you, Miss Hale. Anyway, we should get you back to your class. Your teacher wasn’t too happy when he found me.” Leanne just winced as she remembered she was on a field trip. Later that evening, Leanne stipped off the train that connected Hearthome and Celestic Town, smiling when she caught sight of Carolina. “Professor!” She ran over and the woman place a hand on her head, ruffling her hair.  “There’s no need to be so formal now, Leanne. Please, call me Carolina.” Her blue eyes widened a bit at the professor’s words, but she nodded. Heat rose in her cheeks, though, when Carolina’s gaze moved over to her suitcase. It looked like she stuffed her entire room inside. But Carolina’s eyes just danced as she spoke again. “We can get you set up in one of the guest rooms.”  “Really…?” Leanne’s voice quivered a bit as Carolina nodded, not missing a beat. She thought she had been overly optimistic when she had started shoving clothes and things into her suitcase and backpack the moment she’d gotten home from school, but she apparently hadn’t been. Carolina was infamous for how hard-nosed she was when it came to others, yet she was so kind and motherly. Was she simply a special case or was her harshness reserved only for her colleagues? Whatever the case might be, it made the preteen smile as she hefted her luggage into the back seat and climbed in. How had this even happened? Just a few days ago, she’d thought it impossible to meet Professor Fewell, yet she now sat in the woman’s car. She barely knew her her outside of her academic acclaim, but she’d essentially been taken in. Strangers often brought traveling trainers into their homes as it was considered normal hospitality, but this was completely different. She was just a normal schoolgirl with an interest in archaeology, yet Professor Fewell of all people had praised her… She propped her chin up on the back of her hand as she looked at the lit windows streaking by. Her parents probably hadn’t even noticed she was gone despite how late it was. Then again, they had both been holed up in their offices when she’d left. Several staff members had attempted to stop her, but she had refused and ultimately just blown out the door to the train station. She was glad for the high-speed monorail as it had only taken her about two hours to arrive. Leanne shook her head and sighed, blinking when the car came to a stop. The ride hadn’t been nearly as long as she’d thought it would be. She couldn’t help but smile, though, when she saw Cynthia waiting in the large, bay window. Before she could even blink, the younger girl zipped out of the house and met Leanne by time she stepped out of the car. Her gray eyes sparkled even in the light of the half moon. “I thought you’d never get here! I was waiting forever !”  “Sorry, had to finish school and pack up.” Leanne couldn’t help but chuckle at her new friend’s enthusiasm and patted her head. When she turned back to the car to grab her suitcase, though, she screamed when she saw it floating in midair. What in Arceus’ name was going on?! She laughed a moment later when Carolina brought one hand down hard near the handle, a Duskull floating there. It covered where it’d been hit and her suitcase clattered to the ground.  “Dion, how many damn times to I have to tell you to stop scaring visitors?!” The professor glared at the offending Pokemon before she turned to Leanne. The Duskull picked the suitcase up again and rolled it into the house, making Leanne smile. “Sorry about that, dear. That’s Dion, my assistant. He likes to make a...strong first impression on visitors.” She folded her arms and sighed before she smiled. “He’ll get you all set up. Have you eaten dinner yet?” Leanne shook her head as she shifted a little bit, turning her gaze downward. “N-No…” She hadn’t eaten since lunch, but the thought hadn’t crossed her mind since she’d started packing the second she’d arrived back home. But the Duskull’s antics helped lighten some of the weight on her shoulders. Scraps of reports fluttered through her mind, relaying how he phased through the ground to direct Carolina and her colleagues to artifacts. It was nice to actually meet him (even if he’d nearly given her a heart attack). But she turned her attention back to Carolina who nodded at her words. “Then come in and I’ll start cooking.” The woman extended her hand and Leanne smiled as she took it, a slight spring in her step as she closed the door behind her. ☼ “Cynthia, I’m here!” Leanne smiled as she walked in the door, surprised to find everything so quiet. Why weren’t Cynthia and Carolina chatting about their most recent discoveries? Carolina wasn’t scheduled to be on a dig as she’d returned from her most recent one last weekend… “No, get back here!” Leanne let out a small scream as she a mysterious man barrelled down the hallway after a floating piece of paper and almost tripped over her. She narrowly dodged getting slammed over just in time, though she couldn’t stop herself from wincing as he connected face-first with the pavement. The paper dangled in midair, moving up and down as Dion taunted the man. She put her hand on her hip as she looked at the invisible Pokemon. “Dion, what would Gramma Carolina say if she saw you tormenting this man?” Ath er sharp tone, the Duskull appeared slowly and hovered down toward the man, placing the paper on his head.  The stranger grabbed the paper and stood up as he brushed his clothes off. “Thank you. Dion always gives me trouble…” He blinked a moment later as his eyes widened he leaned in closer to Leanne, prompting her to smack him. The man rubbed his cheek as he recoiled and Leanne folded her arms, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. Just who the hell was he?! “I suppose I deserved that one, but I hope you can forgive me. I was just surprised to see you. You’re Leanne Hale, right?!” Leanne blinked and nodded. Considering nobody outside of her friends and family knew her, he had to be one of Carolina’s colleagues. The man gasped and his eyes threatened to pop out of his head as she recoiled even further before leaning in closer. It took all of her strength to not smack him again. “I-I’m Lucas Franks and I’m forever in your and Cynthia’s debts! Those documents you found and translated on the Blackwell family… I’ve been looking for them for decades ever since I investigated Amun’s mansion and my wife mentioned it and--” “Lucas!” Carolina’s bark made both parties turn their heads, though the color drained from the man’s face and he scrambled back several steps. Leanne couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief considering just how violated she felt. This man wasn’t much younger than Carolina herself. However, she couldn’t stop herself from wincing as the professor approached Lucas getting in his face with a look the teen did not envy. “Do you realise how creepy that looked to an outside observer?! I know you’re excited to meet her, but you have got to think before you act! How many times do Kira and I have to tell you that?!” Carolina gave an exasperated sigh as rubbed her temples, making Leanne wince. She’d never been on the receiving end of Carolina’s scathing tongue, but she’d experienced enough situations like this one over the years to not envy people that did. Carolina looked over at Leanne and shook her head as she cast a glance at Lucas. “Leanne, this is Doctor Lucas Franks, the man I told you about. He’s the world’s foremost expert on ancient Oblivia.”  The teen blinked and nodded as she twirled her finger in her hair, feeling her pulse spike. Oh dear Arceus, she couldn’t believe she’d slapped him! “Ah-- I hope you can forgive me for slapping you, Doctor Hanks!” She’d been so excited to finally be away from home that she’d momentarily forgotten about the archaeological conference that weekend even though she’d been looking forward to it for the past six months!  Lucas just shook his head as he smiled, rubbing his cheek where he’d smacked her. “No, no; it’s my fault like Carolina said. I don’t think when I act half the time. You’d think I’d have learned that by now with how much Kira’s pounded it into me.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle as he extended his hand to Leanne. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Hale. Ever since you published that paper with Professor Fewell, I’ve wanted to meet you. Especially since she told me you found and translated those documents…” His eyes gleamed as she shook his hand and she smiled in return, tucking some loose hair behind her ear. “I can’t say I’ve heard of you or even Oblivia outside of Gram-- I mean Professor Carolina.” After running into a bizarre language while working on those documents, she and Cynthia had alerted her to it. In turn, Carolina had called a man and told him about the discovery. It had only been four months ago, so they were still working, but Carolina had informed them that they were to meet Doctor Hanks and learn about Oblivia. After that, Leanne had dug into every obscure archaeological journal she could to find something on the region, but so little had been written on it outside of hundreds of questions. It was almost like the region didn’t exist. “Not many have, so the name is fitting.” Lucas let go of Leanne’s hand and Carolina sighed. “Anyway, Leanne, I’ll take your stuff inside and get it settled. Lucas wants your help with those documents you found. There’s some snacks on the counter since I’m sure you’re hungry.” Leanne smiled as she gave Carolina a quick nod and took of her backpack, handing it to the elderly woman. “Thanks, Gramma Carolina!” She was fourteen yet the woman still treated her like an elementary schooler, but she didn’t mind in the least. Considering her parents barely acknowledged her existence, she appreciated each small gesture of kindness. The woman just smiled in return and gave Dion a hard look before she walked inside.  Leanne stretched and looked at Lucas, following him inside to the kitchen where strewn papers littered the table and she winced. Normally, Carolina would’ve had a fit, but since he was a colleague, she’d let it slide until he left. “A-Anyway, Miss Hale, since I’m not a scholar on ancient Sinnohian, I was hoping you could help me…” Lucas sat at the table and Leanne grabbed the plate of snacks off the counter as she plopped down next to him.  “Of course, Doctor Hanks. What were you wondering about?” She nibbled on an apple slice as he spread out pictures of the documents from the Blackwell family archives. Her own handwritten notes and translations overlay the surprisingly crisp writing on the ancient paper. Even though they were photos, the pages looked as if they had just been written days before. How they had maintained the documents for the better part of twelve-hundred years was beyond her.  At her prompting, though, Lucas dove into a flurry of questions about the documents, thankful for her deep understanding of ancient Sinnoh and its culture. Her knowledge had grown from the first time she’d set foot in the Hearthome Museum at six and sparked her love of history and archaeology. Thanks to her parents’ wealth, she managed to get her hands on tons of resources and taught herself ancient Sinnohian by the time she had turned ten. Of course, her skills had been recognised by the archaeological community at large when she published the theory of the Dark Queen actually being the Dark King alongside Carolina. She would attend her second conference this weekend since her parents refused to allow her to travel outside of Sinnoh. They didn’t even notice the time fly by until Carolina came downstairs and put a blanket over Leanne’s shoulders. “You should probably head to bed since tomorrow’s a big day for you.” The woman smiled and Leanne glanced at the clock, seeing it read 11:30. She smiled as she twirled her finger in her hair and nodded before heading up to her room where she collapsed on the bed, burying her face in the soft covers.  The next day dawned bright and Leanne struggled to get her suit on, but she followed Carolina, Lucas, and Cynthia to the conference. There, she mingled with a number of important archaeologists and sat in on many talks and theories, ultimately finding herself in one of Lucas’ lectures. Few people sat in on it and Leanne looked around, wondering where everyone was. Of course, she noticed the strange glances everyone gave him as he walked up to the podium. “Good day everyone. As you know, I’m Doctor Lucas Hanks, the world’s foremost expert on ancient Oblivia.” She heard an audible snort from one of the attendees but the doctor continued. “As many of you know, we’ve been working for decades to crack the ancient Oblivian language. It hasn’t been an easy process, but I’ve finally managed to come to understand not only the writing system, but the grammar and cultural implications connected to the structure.” She heard a sigh of disbelief and two of the eight people in the room left. Why were people treating him so badly? From the sound of it, he’d done something astounding.  It didn’t take too long for Leanne to understand he had done just that. He’d shown her a little bit of the language the previous night and the strange writing made no sense to her, but he seemed to understand it perfectly. Even though he had little presence on stage, Leanne found herself hanging off every word coming out of his mouth. How could people ignore these huge breakthroughs? Sentences from the few existing papers she’d read had lamented the difficulty of the ancient Oblivian language and how much of a disadvantage it left them at with not being able to understand it. There were precious few documents that existed from the kingdom before the Cataclysm twelve-hundred years prior that had caused the once-flourishing kingdom to simply disappear. None knew what the Cataclysm was as even contemporary documents from Almia and Fiore didn’t record it. The only mention was of a siege of black from the sky. Some first-hand accounts had been found, but since nobody knew the language, it was impossible to know what information the precious documents contained. How could anybody ignore these breakthroughs? They offered to open up an entirely new chapter in history! After his presentation ended, Leanne blinked, finally released from the hold of his spell. She glanced around and found she was the only person left in the room. Lucas sighed and headed off the stage, but she rose to greet him and smiled brightly. “That was amazing, Doctor Hanks! I can’t believe your discoveries!” She had helped Carolina rewrite their knowledge of Sinnoh’s history, true, but to crack an entire language on his own?  Lucas just smiled and rubbed the side of his neck, shifting his weight a little bit. “Thank you, Miss Hale… I wish my colleagues would think the same way…” He glanced around the empty room and sighed, dropping his hand as he closed his eyes. Leanne furrowed her brow as she looked at him, but he opened his eyes and answered the unspoken question on her face. “I’m the laughing stock of the archaeological community. Everyone but Carolina thinks I’m making stuff up about Oblivia since most of my reference material is from a man who claim to have traveled back in time and lived in the past for ten years...” Leanne’s eyebrows shot up at the confession. No wonder people thought he was nuts. While it was theorised by Pokemon experts that Celebi could travel through time, no hard proof existed.  “I can definitely see why,” she confessed. She honestly couldn’t blame the other doctors and professors for thinking Lucas insane. They basically just swept him under the rug and didn’t publish any of his findings. Lucas just sighed at her words, though, and ran his fingers through his hair.  “I suppose you’re among them.” She winced a bit and couldn’t deny the claim. Now that she knew all of his sources weren’t exactly based in empirical research… But...something did pique her interest. “Doctor Hanks, I can’t say I disagree with your critics--” He recoiled as if he’d been struck. “--but I do have a question. When you were speaking in the language itself, you sounded as if you spoke it natively. Of course, I don’t know anything about the language but just the way it ebbed and flowed… How did you figure all of this out?” If his guesses on how the language sounded were correct, then it wasn an astonishingly beautiful one (if complex and hard to understand). It sounded almost like flowing water with how everything blended together. Even she wasn’t so good with ancient Sinnohian that she could speak it.  Lucas made a small sound of discomfort and looked away, rubbing the side of his neck yet again. Why was he so nervous about such a basic question? They had guesses on how all ancient languages sounded but this was something else entirely. But he sighed a moment later and forced himself to look up at her. “Well...the thing is… My wife… She’s…” Again he looked down and hesitated, looking down at the floor as he mumbled something in the ancient language. He seemed fluent in it. She herself was fluent in the writing of ancient Sinnohian, but nobody knew how to properly speak it. She furrowed her brow and stepped closer to him, making him back up in turn as she put her hands on her hips. (She had spent far too much time around Carolina.) “Doctor Hanks, I won’t betray your secrets, but I have my own lecture to get to in twenty minutes and I have to be ten minutes early.” Yes, she had known the man for less than twenty-four hours, but his nervous nature was beginning to grate on her nerves a little bit. He was plenty confident when talking about anything concerning ancient Oblivia, but when it came to actually answering questions, he seemed to completely fall apart. How had this man landed a lecture at the conference? She was going to be late to her own lecture if he didn’t answer soon. The man shook his head before he looked back at Leanne, his expression crestfallen as if she’d just kicked a baby Skitty in front of him. “I’m going to sound insane, but my wife is from ancient Oblivia and taught me to speak the language.”  This man officially lived in the deep end. Either he believed she had traveled through time or somehow lived for twelve hundred years. Or she did and he played along or...something. There was absolutely no way that could be true. No evidence supported Celebi’s ability to travel through time and nobody knew if the Creation Trio actually existed. The Universal Standard Calendar used the During Arceus and After Arceus designations due to the fact many ancient texts told of Arceus being among humans until around twelve-hundred years prior, but few scholars believed the accounts. Legendaries did exist, but many (herself included) doubted the existence of ones such as the Golems and the Creation Trio. “I-I see.” What else could she say to such an outrageous claim? No sane person would believe him. It really was no wonder he was the laughing stock of the community.  Lucas folded his arms and looked down and she winced again, feeling bad to join his critics so swiftly. He seemed incredibly knowledgeable on ancient Oblivia when nobody else did, but how could she believe him when he made such a crazy declaration? After a moment, though, he looked at her with a smile. “Do you have any interest in ancient Fiore? I’m not an expert on it, but I’ve helped with a number of digs there and several are scheduled for this upcoming summer. Plus, with how gifted you are in linguistics, you could probably prove a big help to cracking the language…” Leanne blinked and her eyebrows shot up at the offer. He was trying to bribe her to come visit him over the summer. She had little interest in Fiore (or any of the Ranger regions for that matter), but she’d studied a bit of ancient Almian and ancient Fioran in her spare time and had cracked some of the smaller mysteries other scholars hadn’t. Several people had already asked her to come to their regions over the summer to get her help with their ancient languages, but… The Fioran language had piqued interest and she knew there would be a dig at the Temple in the middle of the summer… “...I suppose I’ll see you mid July of next year, Doctor Hanks.”  ☼ “...Why did you drag me here again?” Cynthia sighed as she stepped outside of the Fall City Airport with Leanne.  “Because I don’t want to spend several weeks alone with that crazy man and his wife.” While the dig was scheduled for the following week, she’d opted to arrive a week early to cope with the jetlag. Leanne folded her arms as she scanned the crowd for Lucas, though it didn’t take too long for him to walk up with a green-haired girl in tow. She stared up at Leanne who smiled and Cynthia just shifted. She couldn’t blame Cynthia for being uncomfortable, considering Fiore was much warmer than Sinnoh this time of year. A t least they weren’t in Summerland . “Miss Hale, Miss Fewell, it’s good to see you again.” Lucas smiled at them and put a hand on the girl’s head and she smiled in return. “This is my granddaughter, Wendy Meadows.” She couldn’t have been much older than ten, which meant Cynthia only had two years on her.  “It’s nice to meet you, Wendy.” Leanne offered her hand and the green-haired girl took it, grinning widely.  “Nice to meet you too, Leanne and Cynthia! Aepi’s told me a lot about you!” Leanne and Cynthia exchanged glances at the strange word and Leanne recalled it from Lucas’ lecture the previous year. It was apparently the ancient Oblivian word for grandfather. Well, if he had cracked the language, it might make sense for Wendy to know it if she spent a lot of time around him. Judging from how tightly she was clinging to him, it seemed to be the case. What of her parents? “Anyway, let’s head to the house. It’s not too far from here.” Lucas smiled and grabbed a few of the girls’ suitcases as Leanne fell into step beside Wendy who looked at them. “So you’re archaeologists too? You’re awfully young…” “Not officially.” Leanne twirled her finger in her hair. “I’m still in high school and Cynthia’s in middle school…” This girl was awfully inquisitive. She seemed friendly enough and the question was definitely warranted, but it didn’t mean either of them were happy with it. Wendy just continued to stare at them with wide, curious eyes. “I do plan on going to college after I graduate though.” Leanne put her fingertips together and smiled. She’d been working hard to save up money she earned from odd jobs to help pay her way through. However, her smile faded a bit as she looked up at the sky. A few days before they’d left, her mother had confronted her and warned her she’d be completely disinherited if she went through with her plans. She was still a minor, so getting her passport had required her parents’ help and it was only through Carolina’s forceful personality that she’d obtained it. After she’d gotten it, she’d returned home from Cynthia’s to find everything from her room tossed out on the curb.  She’d then called Carolina who announced her plans to formally adopt her. “I plan on becoming the Champion of Sinnoh.” Cynthia’s words snapped Leanne out of the unpleasant memories and she saw her soon-to-be sister grin from ear to ear as she twirled Gabby’s Pokeball on her finger. Wendy wrinkled her nose at Cynthia’s words, giving her a nasty glare. “Oh… I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised you’re a trainer since you’re from Sinnoh.” Wendy folded her arms and looked away from the pair who exchanged curious glances. They had both looked into the culture of the Ranger regions before coming, but they hadn’t expected to be so looked down on. Leanne technically held a trainer’s license, but only so so could have all four of her Pokemon.  The girls fell silent but it didn’t last too long thankfully, as the house was fairly near the airport. Lucas opened the door and Wendy pushed past them and up the stairs as Lucas shook his head. “Forgive her; she’s not fond of trainers, considering all she knows are the Ranger regions.” “No, it’s fine; we understand perfectly.” Cynthia smiled and Leanne nodded her agreement. The concept or Rangers still baffled them, but they had learned enough to respect the culture during their brief, two-week stay in the region.  “She really is a good girl. I hope you can get along with her.” Lucas then turned away from from them and poked his head into the hallway. “ Kira , nivua eti duama! ” Leanne’s eyes widened as she managed to roughly translate the ancient Oblivian into ‘I’m home!’ Over the past year or so she’d gone over Lucas’ lecture time and time again in order to get a basic understanding of the language. She was probably wrong in her translation as she hadn’t formally studied the language, but, considering the context, it seemed safe to assume she was correct. A moment later, a woman walked out of the kitchen, shifting her weight a little bit after she saw Cynthia and Leanne. “Welcome…” Her thick accent made it almost impossible to understand er and Leanne strained to decipher the Unovian. She quickly compared it to Hoennese, Kantoan, Johtan, Sinnohian, Unoivan, Orran, Fioran, and Almian, but...it didn’t match any of the accents she’d encountered before at the archaeology conferences.  Lucas walked over to the woman and wrapped her in his arms as the pair spoke in the strange language-no, ancient Oblivian. Leanne just closed her eyes as her shoulders dropped. He hadn’t been lying at all. The woman barely spoke Unovian. While there were individuals that spoke only their region’s native language, nearly everyone spoke Unovian. The accent was unlike anything she’d encountered before and the language perfectly matched everything Lucas had said in his lecture the previous year.  “Leanne…?” Cynthia nudged her and Leanne just rubbed her temples.  “Sorry, Cyn; I’m currently questioning everything I know…” Just...what was going on here? How had someone from ancient Oblivia lived into the present or arrived there? Why had Lucas only just now come forward with cracking the language when he had no doubt been speaking it for decades? Since his wife truly was from ancient Oblivia, how many of his other claims were true?  She had a feeling she was going to be in for a long two weeks.